After
the debate, the instant television analysis was that Pence had done well and
had won the debate. Further, a number commenting on his gentlemanly manner of response
(as contrast with Kaine’s intensity) immediately pronounced him the frontrunner
for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. The lesson would seem to be
that a politician who looks unruffled on television while effectively
stonewalling an opponent, constantly denying what had taken place in the
campaign or in this case what Trump said or did and lying (“not true”,
“false,”) qualifies as the perfect future presidential candidate.